HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Frank Meziere had watched a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at a restaurant with a friend and before heading home stopped at a self-service car wash to clean his black Mustang convertible.

The 23-year-old Plano stockbroker, a 1996 Texas A&M University graduate, never made it home.

His body was found the next day, March 26, 1998, along the side of a road in an industrial area of Oak Cliff, an area of south Dallas. He had been shot in the head 10 times. His car was found about five miles away, abandoned and with the lights on.

"Having dealt with murders, you think you've seen it all," said Jason January, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney. "But this innocent victim was shot almost for sport.

"It was just the sheer overkill of the thing that was ludicrous."

Yokamon Hearn bragged to friends about how he "domed" Meziere, meaning he shot him in the head. Hearn was set to die Thursday evening for the slaying.

He would be the ninth condemned Texas prisoner to receive lethal injection this year and the second in as many nights.

In an appeal filed this week, lawyers for Hearn said the inmate may be mentally retarded and asked the courts to halt the punishment so they can pursue their claim. The U.S. Supreme Court has barred execution of the mentally retarded. Prosecutors said questions about Hearn's mental competence never surfaced previously.

Hearn, 25, refused to speak with reporters as his execution date neared. The U.S. Supreme Court in November denied his request seeking a review of his case.

"It's hard sometimes to know what a death penalty case is, but after a while you know one when you see it," said January, the lead prosecutor at Hearn's trial. "And this just screamed out for the death penalty."

Dallas jurors agreed, deliberating less than an hour to convict Hearn and about an hour before deciding on punishment.

Hearn was 19 at the time of the crime and had a lengthy record that included burglary, robbery, assault, a sexual assult and weapons possession.

"I remember having a big map of the city showing places he had hit and pulled guns on people," January recalled this week. "He was an equal opportunity carjacker -- women, black, white, everybody."

Hearn, along with two other Dallas men and one woman from Oklahoma City, were seen on a security camera video at a convenience store adjacent to the car wash. They had been out looking for someone to carjack, authorities said.

According to testimony at his trial, Hearn drove Meziere's car after he and companion Delvin Diles forced the victim into the car. The two others, Dwight Burley and Teresa Shirley, were in a second car in a convoy that took them to an area near Dallas' wastewater treatment plant. Meziere was shot there with a Tec-9 automatic, then with a .22-caliber pistol. Hearn drove off with his car.

Shirley, driver of the second car, testified Meziere had his arms raised near his head and appeared to beg for his life as Hearn swung the Tec-9, a 9 mm assault-style rifle stolen from an apartment the previous day, back and forth before opening fire. After the victim hit the ground, Hearn shot him several more times, she said. Diles added some shots from his revolver.

Hearn drove off with Meziere's car and kept the victim's license. A witness testified at his trial that Hearn later bragged at a party about the shooting.

Physical evidence linked both Hearn and Diles to the car.

Diles, 19 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to consecutive life terms for Meziere's death and an unrelated aggravated robbery. He and Hearn were arrested within days of the slaying.

Shirley, then 19, and Burley, then 20, were arrested more than eight months later. Each pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and received 10-year prison sentences.

Hearn was to head to the death chamber 24 hours after convicted killer Marcus Cotton, 29, received lethal injection for fatally shooting Gil Epstein, 27, a Fort Bend County assistant district attorney, during a robbery in Houston in 1996.

On March 26, 1998, Hearn and 3 co-defendants approached the victim (a 26 year old white male) with a gun. They forced the victim into his own car, took him to a deserted area, and shot him 12 times in the head and upper body, resulting in his death. Hearn and the co-defendants took the victim's wallet and personal items and fled in the victim's vehicle.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Frank Meziere had watched a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at a restaurant with a friend and before heading home stopped at a self-service car wash to clean his black Mustang convertible.

The 23-year-old Plano stockbroker, a 1996 Texas A&M University graduate, never made it home.

His body was found the next day, March 26, 1998, along the side of a road in an industrial area of Oak Cliff, an area of south Dallas. He had been shot in the head 10 times. His car was found about five miles away, abandoned and with the lights on.

"Having dealt with murders, you think you've seen it all," said Jason January, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney. "But this innocent victim was shot almost for sport.

"It was just the sheer overkill of the thing that was ludicrous."

Yokamon Hearn bragged to friends about how he "domed" Meziere, meaning he shot him in the head. Hearn was set to die Thursday evening for the slaying.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

4
posted on 03/04/2004 7:15:55 AM PST
by MeekOneGOP
(The Democrats believe in CHOICE. I have chosen to vote STRAIGHT TICKET GOP for years !!)

Shot over ten times in the head....in almost "sportlike" fashion....victim is white....shooter is black, yet not even a vague reference to this being a hate crime! Has the life of young white males now been devalued so much that our alleged legal system does not even investigate the possiblity of this heinous act being a hate crime?

What's this "Condemned Dallas carjacker" crap in the headline? Why does it not say "Vicious, cold-blooded murderer" instead. Then again, if I'd been given the name "Yokamon", I might have grown up a little bitter myself.

A good example on California's reluctance to execute convicted murderers, Kevin Cooper killed a family of three and severely injured a young family friend in 1983. Would you believe his scheduled execution date in February was put on hold by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals?

26
posted on 03/04/2004 7:39:04 AM PST
by John123
(Ketchup boy has been a poodle to rich women for the past 33 years.)

What's truly ironic is that liberals have been telling us for years that IQ is merely a cultural construct and measuring intelligence is simply a way of prolonging the oppression of minorities. Now, suddenly, they are telling us that IQ should determine who on death row should live and who should die.

Are these people never consistent?

29
posted on 03/04/2004 7:42:23 AM PST
by jalisco555
("The right to bear weapons is the right to be free" - A. E. Van Vogt)

What's this "Condemned Dallas carjacker" crap in the headline? Why does it not say "Vicious, cold-blooded murderer" instead. Then again, if I'd been given the name "Yokamon", I might have grown up a little bitter myself.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas  Convicted killer Marcus Cotton was executed Wednesday evening for the fatal shooting of a Houston-area assistant district attorney during a robbery attempt 7 1/2 years ago.

"Well Mom, sometimes it works out like this," Cotton said from the death chamber gurney as his mother, who was among the witnesses, watched through a window. "When you are dealing with reality, real is not always what you want it to be."

Cotton, 29, told his relatives to take care of themselves and that he loved them and his children.

"Y'all are fixing to find out some deep things that are real. Bounce back, baby. You know what I'm saying. Y'all take care of yourselves," he said.

As the drugs began taking effect, he gasped and sputtered. Six minutes later, at 6:13 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Cotton, 29, had been out of prison less than seven months after serving time for attempted murder when he was arrested for gunning down Gil Epstein, 27, a Fort Bend County assistant prosecutor. Epstein was shot in 1996 while leaving Houston's Jewish Community Center after playing basketball with friends.

Cotton was the eighth convicted murderer to receive lethal injection this year in Texas and the first of two scheduled for consecutive nights this week.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to review his case, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request.

Epstein was considered a rising star at the Fort Bend County district attorney's office, where he had interned while attending law school at the University of Houston.

"He was a very engaging young man and truly a gift to humanity," said Greg Gilleland, a former colleague. "I learned an incredible deal from him not only about the practice of law, and about courtroom theatrics and presentation of a trial case to a jury, but about life in general. My friend, he was a good person."

Gilleland, along with Epstein's brother and mother, were on the witness list to see Cotton die.

"I don't mean any disrespect to those people, but they have no facts," Cotton said recently from the visiting area of death row. "They believe in the system. The system brought this person  me  and said this is the person who killed your son. ... The system is broken."

Cotton, from the Houston suburb Missouri City, had an extensive criminal arrest record for theft and drug dealing.

He was convicted of two counts of drug possession in 1992, received a four-year prison term and was paroled less than three months later. In 1993, he was convicted of attempted murder for shooting a man at a Houston apartment complex, served four years of a six-year term and was released under mandatory supervision. The day of the Epstein's killing, Cotton's parole officer had received approval to place an electronic monitor on Cotton's ankle.

Cotton denied he was the gunman who confronted Epstein in the community center parking lot and demanded his wallet. According to testimony at his trial, Cotton shot Epstein after spotting his district attorney badge in the wallet.

"I don't have any remorse because I didn't do it," Cotton said from prison.

Tips to police led to Cotton, who was arrested at his girlfriend's home about a week after the slaying.

Epstein was one of two men confronted by robbers outside the center that night. The other victim testified that he saw Cotton inside Epstein's car. Epstein was found dead in the back seat, shot twice in the head. A former security guard also testified she saw Cotton point a gun at Epstein.

The second gunman, Lawrence Watson, testified against Cotton in exchange for a 10-year prison term. Both had ridden their bicycles to the community center.

Cotton was tried twice for the slaying. The first trial was declared a mistrial when a juror refused to deliberate.

Epstein was raised in New York City and attended the University of Miami in Florida, then came to Houston for law school.

Another condemned prisoner, Yokamon Hearn, was set to die Thursday evening for a carjacking, abduction and fatal shooting in Dallas in 1998.

Convicted on two counts of possession of a controlled substance on 1/21/92 and sentenced to four years in prison. Held in the Harris County Jail and released from the jail on 4/4/92 under paroled in absentia provisions. TDCJ #651521, received 11/24/93, Harris County, 6 years, attempted murder, released under mandatory supervision to Harris Co. on 2/26/96

Summary of incident

Convicted in the September 1996 shooting death of a white male Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney outside the Jewish Community Center in Houston. Cotton and accomplice Lawrence Watson, both armed with pistols, were riding bicycles through the community center parking lot when Watson spotted another male exiting his vehicle. Watson approached this male, put a .38-caliber pistol to his head, and robbed him of his cash. Meanwhile, Cotton saw the Assistant District Attorney outside the center and demanded money from him after pulling a 380 semi-automatic pistol. The victim told Cotton he had no money but that he had valuables in his car. As Cotton put him in the back seat of his Mustang, the other robbery victim, who had gone driving around to the front of the community center to call police, again drove into the parking lot and began blowing his car horn and blinking his lights in an effort to ward off the robbers. Cotton reportedly ordered Watson to shoot the man in the car blowing his horn and then fired two shots into the Assistant District Attorney's head. As the robbers attempted to flee on their bicycles, the man in the other vehicle gave chase in his car and struck Cotton, who with Watson managed to escape on foot by jumping a fence. Following his arrest, Watson implicated Cotton, telling police that Cotton killed the Assistant District Attorney because he had seen the gold badge the victim carried with him as a member of the district attorneys office. The badge was found lying at the victims feet inside the car. Witnesses also told police that Cotton later bragged about shooting the law after seeing the badge.

Co-defendants

Lawrence Edward Watson

Race and Gender of Victim

White male

Photograph of Offender

Last Updated: August 31, 2001

45
posted on 03/04/2004 8:37:24 AM PST
by MeekOneGOP
(The Democrats believe in CHOICE. I have chosen to vote STRAIGHT TICKET GOP for years !!)

Here is the one executed last night that I missed posting. (See #45 for full text) ....

Killer of assistant prosecutor executed

Marcus Cotton

Excerpt:

HUNTSVILLE, Texas  Convicted killer Marcus Cotton was executed Wednesday evening for the fatal shooting of a Houston-area assistant district attorney during a robbery attempt 7 1/2 years ago.

"Well Mom, sometimes it works out like this," Cotton said from the death chamber gurney as his mother, who was among the witnesses, watched through a window. "When you are dealing with reality, real is not always what you want it to be."

Cotton, 29, told his relatives to take care of themselves and that he loved them and his children.

"Y'all are fixing to find out some deep things that are real. Bounce back, baby. You know what I'm saying. Y'all take care of yourselves," he said.

As the drugs began taking effect, he gasped and sputtered. Six minutes later, at 6:13 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

47
posted on 03/04/2004 8:43:40 AM PST
by MeekOneGOP
(The Democrats believe in CHOICE. I have chosen to vote STRAIGHT TICKET GOP for years !!)

i understand your feelings. years ago i heard a pastor on the radio give a sermon regarding the issue which changed my outlook. the essential point; that it was the state, thru the court system, due process, juries, appeals, etc. that executed the perp.....

biblical examples of the "execution" of the "unrighteous" (criminals, in this context) abound.

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